May 31, 2009

I'm making great strides with my Prairie Paisley quilt. It looks rather wild with that feather print border, but the last pieced border will really help tone things down, I think.

There's also been a lot of progress where my daughter's teeth are concerned. Here's a picture of her last August when she first got her braces on - see that big gap between her front teeth? It was something she wanted gone. Well, as the second picture shows, we're almost there - the gap is very small now! Of course, now the silly girl says "I miss my gap" You can't win, but I think she's adorable, gap or no gap.

May 28, 2009

I hesitated to post about this because I didn't want to appear to be bragging, but I see Nicole shared her loot with you, so I am going to do the same. Besides, I am so over the moon with excitement that I can't stand not sharing my good fortune.

I was also honored to be asked by my friend Carrie Nelson to piece 2 quilts for her upcoming secret project. Now while it was certainly reward enough to me to have been asked to be a part of this project, Carrie somehow felt she needed to reward me with gifts as well. She not only sent me 2 boxes of my favorite Presencia thread before I began the project, but she sent me these wonderful goodies from Market, which came as a surprise in my mailbox after a rough day at work on Tuesday. I could barely contain my excitement as I opened the box.

Inside were a FQ bundle of the fall release from one of my favorite designers, 3 Sisters - Aster Manor - plus 2 layer cakes of Eva, the upcoming collection from another designer I'm growing quite fond of - Basic Grey. Those mulberry, pink and lime green are not my typical color palette, but one of my secret projects was a quilt made from their current collection, Sultry, which is lighter shades in the same color ranges and I absolutely fell in love with that quilt. It's all I can do not to post a picture of it. These Eva fabrics have already been planned into a quilt that will coordinate nicely with my Sultry quilt and I can't wait to get started after my Prairie Paisley project is finished.

Carrie also included one of those great sampler pincushions from Blackbird Designs, which I have been coveting at the quilt shop where I work, I just hadn't brought myself to buy one yet. And now I'm glad I didn't!

Thanks so much for your kindness and generosity, Carrie. I had so much fun working with you and hope I get to do it again soon - you don't even have to bribe me with fabric!!!

May 27, 2009

Let me introduce my latest project - I'm making the Paisley Parade quilt designed by Laurie Simpson that was on the cover of Quilt Sampler magazine last year. Look here to see what the finished quilt will look like. I absolutely adore the Prairie Paisley fabrics, and am already planning a second quilt with my leftovers.

I've never made a medallion-style quilt before and I am really enjoying this one.

May 24, 2009

I hope you are all enjoying this holiday weekend. I've had the last 3 days off from my "real" job and will have Monday off as well. I will be working at the quilt shop tomorrow, but I don't mind - that's my "fun" job.

This morning I finally finished the shop sample I've been working on with Moda's Wonderland fabric. It was not a fun project to piece and I'm glad that I'm done and now have all the possibilities of my fabric stash and my sewing room at my disposal for a more "fun" project. I'm already excited to get started!

May 19, 2009

I've made quite a lot of progress on my Wonderland quilt, but now it is getting too big to photograph. Take the last photo I posted of the blocks and multiply it by 4, and that's the progress I have made on that project. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I started a new stitching project. I found this cute pattern - Wool and Needle Snowmen thru the Year by Buttermilk Basin. Each piece is 4-1/2 x 5-1/2 and can be entirely stitched, or you can add wool applique pieces, which is what I am doing with mine. I will frame these with quilt fabric and make a wallhanging.

I used Sandhut fabric for the first time as my background, and it's great for stitching. It's substantial enough that I don't need a hoop, and the thickness of it means I don't have to worry about threads showing through to the front. I followed this wonderful tutuorial to transfer my design to Solvy and it works really great! This will be my warm up project to Winter Wonderland.

May 4, 2009

Wow, I cannot believe it's been more than 2 weeks since I updated my blog! I have finally finished the second of my stunt sewing projects that I couldn't blog about and now I am making a sample for the quilt shop using these cute Wonderland fabrics by Moda. Here are the first 4 blocks - they are 15" blocks, so this will be one really big quilt!

I have my first stunt quilt back from the quilter, and as much as I would love to give you a sneak peek and show off the fabulous quilting like Nicole did with hers, it doesn't photograph well (and I completely blame *that* on my photography skills). Rest assured, the quilt is absolutely gorgeous. My 2 coworkers at the quilt shop wanted to make sure we laid in a supply of the fabric so they could make the quilt, too. But wait until you see the second stunt quilt - it will take your breath away. It's one of those rare projects where, every time I finished a block and put it on the design wall I said "oh that's my favorite block" until I finished the next one!